{{Short description|1936 British film by Michael Powell}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Crown v. Stevens | image = Crown_v._Stevens_(1936_film).jpg | caption = | director = [[Michael Powell]] | producer = [[Irving Asher]] | writer = [[Brock Williams (screenwriter)|Brock Williams]] | based_on = {{based on|''Third Time Unlucky''<br>1935 novel|[[Laurence Meynell]]}} | narrator = | starring = [[Beatrix Thomson]]<br/>[[Patric Knowles]] | music = | cinematography = [[Basil Emmott]] | editing = [[Bert Bates|A. B. Bates]] | studio = [[Warner Bros.]] | distributor = Warner Bros. | released = {{film date|df=yes|1936|8|3|''UK''}} | runtime = 66 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }}

'''''Crown v. Stevens''''' is a 1936 British [[crime film|crime]] [[thriller film]] directed by [[Michael Powell]], starring [[Beatrix Thomson]] and [[Patric Knowles]] and featuring [[Glennis Lorimer]] and [[Googie Withers]]. It was made as a "[[Cinematograph Films Act 1927|quota quickie]]",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/176202 |title=Teddington Studios Introduction |publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |access-date=5 June 2014}}</ref> a film made to fulfill a legal requirement at the time that a certain percentage of films shown in British movie theatres be made in the U.K. by British personnel.

==Plot== Ex-dancer Doris Stevens kills a moneylender who is pressing her for settlement of her debt and threatening to tell her respectable businessman husband. Chris Jensen, who also owes money (for a ring he gave to his fiancée, who ran off with it) sees her there but does not report her. After she leaves, he burns pages from the moneylender's ledger which listed his debt. Later, Jensen finds out the woman is his employer's wife. He later accidentally intervenes when Doris attempts to murder her dull and stingy husband. When her husband is saved from dying, she admits her guilt and is taken away by the police.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britmovie.co.uk/films/Crown-V-Stevens |title=Crown V Stevens &#124; Britmovie &#124; Home of British Films |access-date=9 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620192609/http://www.britmovie.co.uk/films/Crown-V-Stevens |archive-date=20 June 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Cast== * [[Beatrix Thomson]] as Doris Stevens, a former music hall dancer, now wife of Arthur Stevens * [[Patric Knowles]] as Chris Jensen, an employee of Arthur Stevens * [[Glennis Lorimer]] as Miss Molly Hobbes, an interior decorator * [[Reginald Purdell]] as Alf, Stevens' foreman * [[Allan Jeayes]] as Inspector Carter * [[Frederick Piper]] as Arthur Stevens, a businessman * [[Googie Withers]] as Ella Levine, Doris' friend, another former dancer * [[Mabel Poulton]] as Mamie, a [[scam|grifter]] who steals an unpaid-for ring given to her by Chris Jensem * [[Billy Watts (actor)|Billy Watts]] as Joe Andrews, a grifter, boyfriend of Mamie ''(uncredited)'' * [[Davina Craig]] as Maggie, the Stevens' maid ''(uncredited)'' * [[Morris Harvey]] as Maurice Bayleck, a moneylender ''(uncredited)'' * [[Bernard Miles]] as Detective Wells ''(uncredited)''

==Production== Director Michael Powell said of the five "quota quickies" he directed for producer [[Irving Asher]] at Warner Bros.' [[Teddington Studios]], that they were "a damn sight more honest and more entertaining" then other films he worked on at the time, "because they were not trying to be anything but what they were, and they were tailored from first-class scripts". These were cut down to 50 pages by the story department and handed over to the director. Powell called ''Crown vs. Stevens'', his next-to-last film for Asher, a "tight little drama".<ref>[[Michael Powell|Powell, Michael]] (1986) ''A Life in Movies: An Autobiography''. New York: Knopf. p.238 {{isbn|0-394-55935-5}}</ref><ref>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1138848/index.html "Crown vs. Stevens] (936)"] ''Screen Online''</ref>

==Critical reception== At the time of the film's release, ''[[Kinematograph Weekly]]'' called it a "Vivid portrayal of a young woman who commits murder and then tries to poison her husband, thereby involving his employee, a witness to the former crime. Plot is entirely suited to those who do not demand that a crime story should justify its existence by reaching too high an artistic level in theme, acting or presentation. Definitely unsuited to the family, the picture may nevertheless find a place in the average programme as a quota thriller";<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/36_Crown/KW.html|title=Contemporary Review (Kinematograph Weekly) - Crown v. Stevens (1936)|website=www.powell-pressburger.org}}</ref> while more recently, ''[[TV Guide]]'' called it "Occasionally suspenseful," though opined "the plot is soggy and the actors all wet";<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/crown-vs-stevens/review/111876/|title=Crown Vs Stevens - TV Guide|website=TVGuide.com}}</ref> whereas Dennis Schwartz noted "a very entertaining little melodrama," and concluded "The acting honors go to (Beatrix) Thomson. The stage actress was superb as the quintessential [[femme fatale]], and easily steals this film from her capable co-stars."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/crownvsstevens.htm|title=crownvsstevens|first=Dennis|last=Schwartz|website=homepages.sover.net}}</ref>

==References== <references/>

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0027484|Crown v. Stevens}} * {{TCMDb title|id=630566}} * {{Screenonline title|id=1138848|title=Crown v. Stevens}} * [http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/36_Crown/index.html Reviews and articles] at the [http://www.powell-pressburger.org Powell & Pressburger Pages]

{{Powell and Pressburger}}

[[Category:British crime thriller films]] [[Category:1936 English-language films]] [[Category:Films directed by Michael Powell]] [[Category:Films by Powell and Pressburger]] [[Category:Quota quickies]] [[Category:1930s crime thriller films]] [[Category:Films shot at Teddington Studios]] [[Category:Films set in London]] [[Category:Warner Bros. films]] [[Category:British black-and-white films]] [[Category:1936 British films]] [[Category:English-language crime thriller films]] [[Category:1936 films]]